The Cities Pledging to Defy Trump on Immigration

We are still in the early days of a post-Trump world, and it remains difficult to tell how the President-elect will govern once he takes office in January. In the short time since he was elected, Donald Trump has already appeared to begin walking back some of his most extreme positions on the Affordable Care Act and the famous wall at the Mexico border. But he has also hired a white nationalist as his chief strategist in the White House, and appears intent on deporting some 3 million undocumented immigrants (still the most in history, but far less than his original vow to deport 11 million).

As we all prepare to find out just how many campaign promises Trump intends to keep, some state and local governments are steeling themselves for what could turn into an ugly fight over local immigration enforcement policies. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to cut off federal funding to localities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in enforcing immigration law. These so-called sanctuary cities stand to lose a lot: In San Francisco alone, city leaders estimate they receive about one billion dollars a year in federal funding for everything from infrastructure to education.